Freedom of Speech vs. Bigotry at University

[Sophus]

This is so short and brief that I can fit the entire report below, but I've noticed a lot of these sorts of cases coming up recently.

A federal appeals court has tossed out the lawsuit of a California community college student who claimed that a teacher illegally berated him in class for making a speech opposing same-sex marriage.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday unanimously overturned a lower court decision allowing Los Angeles City College student Jonathan Lopez' case to go forward.
A three-judge panel says Lopez failed to show he was harmed by the incident days after California voters in November 2008 enacted Proposition 8 a ban on gay marriages.
Lopez alleged that speech instructor John Matteson cut him off midway through his oration when he quoted a dictionary definition of marriage and recited a pair of Bible verses. He said Matteson also called him a "fascist bastard."

If this claim is true, I still don't know where I stand. On one hand it is sort of against free speech, on the other: would we allow racists to rant in the classroom? Or sexists? I wouldn't think so. You can't use hate speech in the workplace, so shouldn't a gay student at college have the right to be comfortable while attending class?

To play devil's advocate to myself: what was the speech topic? If the teacher asked for his opinion on something does he have the right to silence him?

[humblesmurph]

Yes, I think sexists, racists, homophobes and all other bigoted  folks should be able to express themselves freely in a college classroom.  What better place to debunk such beliefs?

[Thumpalumpacus]

A community college, being a public institution, can restrict freedom of speech in certain instances.  If the class is not concerning religion, the biblical citations may be rightly called impertinent.  What class this was may well have much to do with it.  Also, citing Bible verses might be construed as proselytizing, and the dismissal may be grounded on that, although I do not know.

But the "fascist bastard" part, if true, is a violation of professional conduct, and the teacher ought to be disciplined for it, if such has not already happened.

[deekayfry]

The key to the ruling is that Lopez failed to show harm.  A teacher cutting off his student is rude and uncivil, but although much, much less common nowadays it still sounds like to me an acceptable retort during some kind of a debate.

[Thumpalumpacus]

As a debate tactic, it fails, in my mind.  Nothing screams "I cannot muster a cogent argument" quite like "shut up."  If they were debating gay marriage, that student had every right to participate. If they were discussing marriage in general, would've been a side-issue at best.

If they were discussing public speaking in general, the the teacher was right, though ham-handed.